Posted on 07/05/2007 3:51:06 PM PDT by Recovering_Democrat
I need a bit of advice. I do not own a notebook/laptop computer, this will be my first purchase.
Offered to me NEW: a Toshiba Satellite A135-S2326. Windows Vista Basic (I know, I know...bugs/monster memory eater), 80gb hard drive, 512M of RAM. 15.4" screen.
The price after rebates: $350.
I might eventually upgrade the RAM to 1 or 2GB.
This is going to be used primarily for a child being homeschooled, maybe to watch DVDs during travel, light internet usage in airports, etc. Nothing massive.
Is $350 a good price?
Don’t get Vista basic. Get an upgrade, any upgrade.
Toshiba sold high-speed milling technology to the Soviets in contravention of U.S. law. I vote, nyet.
Offered to you? Of course it is a good price.
Spend $89 extra and get a legitimate copy of Windows XP Pro SP2. Then install it instead of the Vista crap.
Did you get the license number of the truck it was being sold out of the back of?
Don’t skimp on the extra memory. Vista needs it regardless of what Microsoft says, IMHO.
You need a linux box. Or a Macintosh. Or a ball point and a graph pad.
Sounds like a good buy.
That's a lower-end laptop that might be about right for your purposes. You might investigate extended warranties (especially for the display) if it's for a kid. 512 MB is a little light for Vista, IMHO, but it'll run.
LOL....It comes with oven mitts?
I haven’t tried Vista yet, but Dell recommends a minimum of 1 gig of memory, and I’ve heard that 2 gig does better.
Don’t get Vista. Microsoft is forcing Vista to the market and Toshiba signed a deal with the devil. That’s probably why the price is so low.
Stay with XP.
Yes, that’s a very reasonable price.
And Vista will take FIVE minutes to boot
You can always upgrade Vista after you’ve bought it, but I’d go with the next version up from that if possible.
What you mentioned should work with what you said you needed it for.
Tech ping...
And what about all the .x files that she/he won’t be able to download? patches and more patches.
350 is a good price for a notebook but Vista Basic is less functional than XP. I would upgrade to Vista Business and up the RAM to 2 GB.
That should run you an extra 200 or so.
I bought a Satellite Pro several months ago and am very happy with it. A few things:
1) Check to see if Toshiba has XP drivers for the laptop. The Pro I bought only had Vista drivers, so I was forced to upgrade to Vista Business (it came loaded with Vista Basic).
2) Get the extra memory. You’ll need >1GB for Vista.
Look in your local phone book and see if you have any computer specialists in your area and talk to them. They may have a reliable one that has been traded in or sold to them cheap. They may even be able to build you one (maybe). They should definitely be able to build you a desktop. But spending $350 on that is $350 that is wasted. You all will be so frustrated in getting it to do the simplist tasks.
I got Vista business with Word with my new Dell. It’s just fine except all the Google dreck.
I bet it’s so cheap because of the meager memory. If you’re staying with Vista you’ll want/need 2GB, else price out 1GB.
But yeah, it’s a good deal.
I also don’t buy from Toshiba because of the sub tech deal.
512MB is probably going to be to little for Vista. For the cost of upgrading the memory, you can follow TommyDale’s advice and get Windows XP.
I have run XP Pro in a professional programming environment for several years with no problems. This means Lotus Notes[a real memory hog], FireFox, along with either Xwindows or Eclipse, running dual monitor with four virtual desktops.
I have an older Satellite. Mine has worked great. I paid close to $1000 after rebates.
Are you sure Vista will even run on “just” 512MB RAM? I thought I remember reading somewhere that the minimal is 1GB, but I could be wrong.
I’ve had an Acer Aspire 9410 with Vista and I love it. Takes about 15 seconds to boot. Bought Windows Live One Care security suite-love it, too. AND, best of all it has a 17in. screen. I’ll never settle for a smaller one. Cost $799 about 3 months ago.
You will hate Vista. It is almost like learning a new operating system AND it takes forever and ever to do anything.
5 minutes to boot is NOT an exaggeration.
criminy...they’re almost disposable these days at these prices.
I bought a Toshiba at Office Depot, $750, but after rebates it was $450.00. About a year later I had no choice but to buy more memory, so for $150 I bought a new 1 gig memory stick, and this thing sails. We watch dvd’s on it and play games too. Take it with me everywhere.
PS, at a resort in the middle of nowhere that had wireless Internet, I connected instantly! excellent speed.
PPS. I recommend the logitech cordless mouse. It’s awesome.
Since you’ve never had a laptop, I’ll warn you that adding memory usually means buying how much you want. In other words, don’t check prices for 512MB more, because you’ll probably have to pull and discard the memory you have now.
In other other words, if you want it to have 1GB, you have to buy 1GB; and if you want 2GB, you’ll have to buy 2GB.
Choose wisely.
Not in my experience-see post 28. My Acer SCREAMS with Vista, and boots in about 15 seconds. Love the Vista OS-my favorite of all time. We do desktop publishing and it’s the best I’ve ever used. Macs are twice the cost, and forget a 17in. screen...
As I recall, Microsoft initially said XP Home would run on 64MB, but 128MB was recommended.
In other words, define "run."
Without 1GB, as I understand it, XP churns the hard disk like a coffee grinder.
Ach!
Should have been:
Without 1GB, as I understand it, Vista churns the hard disk like a coffee grinder.
My machine has 2 Gb. It might get by with 1 Gb most of the time but sometimes it uses some of the second Gb.
LOL!
Hey, it's the brilliant simile which counts the most anyway.
:O)
If that will be the extent (or even close) of the usage it will get then I say grab it!
However, the first thing you should do is download a copy of SimplyMEPIS Linux, burn it to a CD and then wipe the Vista off the unit and install the Linux. That will be one hell of a platform to run SimplyMEPIS on. I use it on a Dell C640 and it ROCKS!
$350 sounds like a good deal, though 1.) *I* wouldn’t get Vista (just went out of my way to get wifey an XP laptop), and 2.) keep in mind that you may need more memory.
Here’s a Dell with 1 Gig for $449 with free shipping:
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=bnpdhdv&cs=04&dgvcode=ss&c=US&l=EN
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/winxp_inspn?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=anavml
I have a Toshiba Satellite that I got for about $500 a couple years ago - I run Windows XP on it, and after upgrading to 768 Mbytes of RAM (was able to add a 512 MB memory stick to the 256 Mbs that came with it, and didn't have to throw any memory out) it runs a web browser and Quicken ok, though definitely more sluggish than my other systems.
You will end up paying a $100 every year or two for a new laptop battery - they die on you. Get a desktop if you want to avoid that cost.
I don't know first hand what to say about running Vista; I refuse to upgrade from Windows XP myself. But I am pretty sure from all I've read that Vista wants about twice as much memory as Windows XP.
Unfortunately, adding a Windows XP license will cost you another $100 or so. You can get Windows XP included in a used laptop, for $400, give or take, by going to UsedLaptops.com - with Windows XP.
Either way, you will need more memory. I'd get memory from Crucial.com. A second stick of 512 MBytes, to go with the 256 Mbyte stick that comes in these low end laptops, will cost you about $100. That puts you up to 768 MBytes - ok for Windows XP. For Vista, I'd throw out the 256 Mb that came with it, and put in a pair of 1 GByte sticks, for 2 GBytes total. That will cost you about $200.
So ... whether you pay $100 for Windows XP and $100 for another 512 Mbytes, or you pay $200 for another 2 GBytes, plan on spending $200 extra to make it usable.
And with Windows, it isn't just slow you're dealing with. Windows is not stable when run with too little memory. After spending five or ten minutes to do what should be done in a few seconds, it will as likely hang or crash on you. Unless you're locked up in solitary confinement with nothing else to mess with, it's simply not worth the bother to run Windows with a quarter of the memory that would be adequate.
My advice is get a new PC with XP on it. Go to the links we gave you for Dell. Dell sells new computers with XP on it installed at the factory.
Someone at work bought a notebooks with Vista on it. It takes like 10 minutes to restart. You are waiting on it a lot to do everyday things. Very slow.
My advice is get a new PC with XP on it. Go to the links we gave you for Dell. Dell sells new computers with XP on it installed at the factory.
Someone at work bought a notebooks with Vista on it. It takes like 10 minutes to restart. You are waiting on it a lot to do everyday things. Very slow.
And get as much RAM as you can. You can never have enough RAM Or Hard drive space lol.
I just recently bought my PC from Dell and got 2 GB RAM , a 500 GB hard drive, and the fastest CPU i could get. It came with XP proffesional as I specified. Needless to say with XP on it and 2 GB of RAM it runs very well and fast.
My sis just bought a Satellite, it says it has a 1.8Ghtz processor, 1,980 MB RAM or something like that and about 147 GB harddrive. Its got Vista Home Premium... it was VERY expensive
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